A parent.
A coach.
A teacher.
A mentor.
A neighbor.
A friend who believed in them before they believed in themselves.

This week on Soul Thursdays LIVE, we’re exploring one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves:

Who helped build you?

Not who gave you a title.

Not who made you famous.

But who helped shape your confidence, your discipline, your character, and your purpose.

Two Different Journeys. One Powerful Conversation.

Our first spotlight guest, P. Kevin Williamson, is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and founder of I Develop You Coaching Solutions. With more than 26 years of experience in philanthropy, fundraising, and leadership development, Kevin has dedicated his career to helping professionals become stronger leaders and healthier teammates.

But before he became a leadership coach, Kevin was a shy young man whose life was changed by mentors, church leaders, educators, and fraternity brothers who saw something in him worth developing. His story reminds us that leadership doesn’t begin with a promotion—it begins with character.

Our second guest, Donnell Holmes, traveled a very different path.

Growing up in Ivanhoe, North Carolina, Donnell simply wanted to box. Through years of discipline, relentless training, and the guidance of exceptional coaches, he rose to become the #1 ranked Light Heavyweight in the United States, earned a place on the U.S. World Class Elite Boxing Team, built an impressive professional career, and was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2023.

His journey reminds us that championships are built long before anyone sees the trophy.

Different Careers. Shared Lessons.

Although one guest comes from leadership development and the other from professional boxing, their stories intersect in meaningful ways.

Both learned the value of mentorship.

Both discovered that confidence is developed—not inherited.

Both understand that discipline often matters more than talent.

Both recognize that success rarely happens alone.

Their experiences invite us to think beyond careers and accomplishments. They challenge us to consider the people, habits, and values that shape who we become.

Join the Conversation

After our two spotlight interviews, we’ll open the floor for a community discussion centered around one simple but powerful question:

Who helped build you?

We’ll reflect on the mentors who changed our lives, the lessons that continue to guide us, and the responsibility we all share in helping build the next generation.

Whether you’re a parent, educator, coach, entrepreneur, community leader, or someone simply looking for encouragement, this promises to be an evening of meaningful conversation and shared wisdom.

Because the greatest legacy we leave isn’t simply what we accomplish.

It’s the people we help build.

Join Us Live

🎙 Soul Thursdays LIVE

Episode: Built, Not Born: Who Helped Build You?

Featuring:

• P. Kevin Williamson — Leading Beyond the Title: Confidence, Community, and Calling

• Donnell Holmes — The Heart of a Contender

📅 Thursday, July 2

🕗 8:00 PM Eastern

🌐 Register FREE at SoulThursdays.com

Bring your stories.
Bring your questions.
Bring someone who helped build you.

Let’s grow together.

Some lessons were healthy.

Some were inherited without ever being questioned.

Tonight on Soul Thursdays, we’re inviting you into a conversation that goes far beyond the title of a book. We’re exploring the beliefs, experiences, and emotional patterns that shape how we connect—with our partners, our communities, and ourselves.

Our special guest is Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons, an award-winning psychologist, TEDx Editor’s Choice speaker, Emory University professor, and author of Good Sex: Stories, Science, and Strategies for Sexual Liberation.

Dr. Hargons is one of the nation’s leading researchers on sexual wellness, mental health, healing racial trauma, and community-based healing. Through her groundbreaking Neighborhood Healers Project, she trains trusted community leaders—including barbers, hairstylists, pastors, and first ladies—in Mental Health First Aid, helping bring healing directly into neighborhoods.

Tonight’s Conversation

We’ll explore questions that affect all of us:

• Who taught us how to love?

• What relationship beliefs have we inherited?

• How does shame influence intimacy?

• What does emotional freedom really look like?

• Why do so many people survive but struggle to thrive?

• How can our communities become places of healing?

This isn’t simply a conversation about sex.

It’s a conversation about connection, communication, healing, liberation, and building healthier relationships from the inside out.

Whether you’re single, dating, married, healing from past relationships, or simply interested in understanding yourself more deeply, this discussion promises to offer practical insights grounded in both science and lived experience.

Join Us Live

📅 Thursday, June 25

🕢 7:45 PM Eastern

🌐 Register and watch live at: SoulThursdays.com

Bring your questions. Invite a friend. Come ready for a thoughtful conversation where curiosity is welcomed, judgment is left at the door, and we grow together.

Because sometimes the most important conversations are the ones we’ve been avoiding.

See you tonight.

— Calvin Creates
Founder, Community Education Collective
Executive Producer, Soul Thursdays
Facilitator, 2026 National Juneteenth Leadership Conference
CoEDCommunity.com
Planning a conference, reunion, livestream, podcast, or hybrid event?
Schedule a Discovery Call

📅 Thursday, June 18, 2026 ⏰ 10:00 AM START– 💻 Virtual (Zoom)

JOIN at JuneteenthConference.org

What We’re Covering

1. Building a Self-Sustaining Black Economy

2. Mental & Spiritual Health for Holistic Healing

3. Urban Farming & Food Deserts

4. Food Security in Black America

5. How to Start an African American Museum in Your City

Who’s Already in the Room

• University professors and deans from Tuskegee, Kansas State, Duke, Indiana, Tulane

• Government leaders from Detroit, Rochester, and Richland County

• Nonprofit founders running food justice, youth development, and crisis intervention

• Educators, entrepreneurs, and community organizers from 20+ states

— Calvin Rich, Soul Thursdays · Community Education Collective

Founder | Community Education Collective

Executive Producer | Soul Thursdays

Community Architect | Connecting people, ideas, and expertise to build stronger communities.

🌐 CoEDCommunity.com

🎙️ DJCalvin.com

Planning a conference, reunion, livestream, podcast, or hybrid event?

Schedule a complimentary discovery conversation:

📅 Book a Discovery Call with Calvin

A full-day conference on saving Black families and communities — and why I need you in the room.

Every year, Juneteenth gets a little more commercial. A little more decorative. A few more corporate emails. Another holiday sale.

We’re doing something different.

On June 18, 2026, Soul Thursdays and the International Institute for Improving Race Relations are hosting the 2026 National Juneteenth Leadership Conference — a free, full-day virtual gathering built around one question:

What does it actually take to save Black families and communities?

We’re bringing people who are doing the work — right now — into one room to share what’s working.

Register (Free)

📅 Thursday, June 18, 2026 ⏰ 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM ET 💻 Virtual (Zoom) 🎫 Free

Register at JuneteenthConference.org

What We’re Covering

1. Building a Self-Sustaining Black Economy

2. Mental & Spiritual Health for Holistic Healing

3. Urban Farming & Food Deserts

4. Food Security in Black America

5. How to Start an African American Museum in Your City

Who’s Already in the Room

• University professors and deans from Tuskegee, Kansas State, Duke, Indiana, Tulane

• Government leaders from Detroit, Rochester, and Richland County

• Nonprofit founders running food justice, youth development, and crisis intervention

• Educators, entrepreneurs, and community organizers from 20+ states

🎤 Hosts

Curtis Pitts — President & CEO, International Institute for Improving Race Relations. Over 40 years civil rights activism.

Calvin Rich — Executive Producer, Soul Thursdays. Founder, Community Education Collective. Emcee & Producer.

Register (Free)

📅 Thursday, June 18, 2026 ⏰ 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM ET 💻 Virtual (Zoom) 🎫 Free

Register at JuneteenthConference.org

Come build with us.

— Calvin Rich, Soul Thursdays · Community Education Collective

Founder | Community Education Collective

Executive Producer | Soul Thursdays

Community Architect | Connecting people, ideas, and expertise to build stronger communities.

🌐 CoEDCommunity.com

🎙️ DJCalvin.com

Planning a conference, reunion, livestream, podcast, or hybrid event?

Schedule a complimentary discovery conversation:

📅 Book a Discovery Call with Calvin

Elyse Jones

The Love Language of Discipline

How can we discipline children without damaging connection?

Elyse Jones examines the critical difference between discipline and punishment — and how generational parenting patterns shape the way we correct our children. Her work centers emotional safety, parent-child relationships, and identity formation within family systems.

Children learn best when correction happens within the context of connection.

In this conversation, Elyse explores:

• Discipline vs. punishment — and why the distinction changes everything

• How generational parenting patterns get passed down — and how to break them

• What emotional safety actually looks like inside a household

• How identity forms — or fractures — inside the family system

Dr. Toi Curry

Beyond Behavior: Building MINDS for Life

What skills help children thrive long after discipline ends?

Dr. Toi Curry introduces the MINDS Framework — a practical model for the five internal skills every child needs to become a capable, self-directed adult. Dr. Curry previously joined Soul Thursdays for our Child Mental Health episode in 2022 and brings deep expertise in brain development and executive functioning.

Raising Children Beyond Compliance

The goal is not simply good behavior, good grades, or rule following. The goal is helping children become self-aware, motivated, emotionally healthy, connected, and capable adults.

Elyse answers: How should we parent?

Dr. Curry answers: What skills are children developing?

Calvin explores: Who children become.

Audience Reflection Question

What skill do you wish someone had intentionally taught you before adulthood? Self-awareness? Emotional regulation? Decision making? Motivation? Communication?

Drop it in the comments below. 👇

Join Us Live — Thursday, June 11 at 8 PM ET

Register at SoulThursdays.com and bring a parent, a teacher, or anyone who loves a child.

The conversation centers on forgiveness, not as a moment, but as a process. Antwone reframes fear, survival, and identity in ways that will stay with you long after the episode ends. This is one of the most powerful conversations Calvin has had on Soul Thursdays.

Join Antwone Fisher and host Calvin on this week’s episode of Soul Thursdays to explore what it means to survive, to forgive, and to finally become who you were always meant to be.

## Description

Calvin opens by framing the conversation around the idea of “being chosen” — not through comfort, but through the ability to survive. Antwone shares that forgiveness is not instant: *”You have to live long enough… and process it.”* He compares emotional pain to physical injury — it must heal naturally over time, not on demand.

A defining turning point in Antwone’s life came when he stopped focusing on what he lacked: *”I stopped focusing on what I didn’t get… and started figuring out what I could do for myself.”* That shift led him to join the Navy — and eventually to writing, filmmaking, and becoming a voice for millions who grew up without one.

Antwone also shares how he began writing as a child — putting feelings on paper and destroying the pages afterward. *”That was my first beginning of getting it out.”* He reframes fear not as the enemy, but as a signal: *”Maybe fear isn’t the enemy… maybe it’s an alarm.”* This episode is a masterclass in resilience, identity, and what it means to claim your story.

## Quotes

• “You have to live long enough… and process it.” (00:42:15-00:42:22 | Antwone Fisher)

• “I stopped focusing on what I didn’t get… and started figuring out what I could do for myself.” (00:51:30-00:51:40 | Antwone Fisher)

• “That was my first beginning of getting it out.” (00:38:44-00:38:48 | Antwone Fisher)

• “Maybe fear isn’t the enemy… maybe it’s an alarm.” (01:05:20-01:05:26 | Antwone Fisher)

• “Anybody had to win, and start all over, and have to win again.” (00:19:25-00:19:34 | Calvin)

## Links

Antwone Fisher Website - https://antwone-fisher.com

Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees (New Book) - https://antwone-fisher.com

Finding Fish: A Memoir - https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Fish-Memoir-Antwone-Fisher/dp/0688176992

A Boy Should Know How to Tie a Tie - https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Should-Know-How-Tie/dp/1416566627

Who Will Cry for the Little Boy? (Poem) - https://poemanalysis.com/antwone-fisher/who-will-cry-for-the-little-boy/

---

About Soul Thursdays - @SoulThursdays

Witty, thought-provoking, and uplifting, Soul Thursdays is the livestream podcast you’ll want to invite friends over to watch every week. Join us Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern for real conversations, fascinating guests, community dialogue, and inspiring stories that help us learn, connect, and grow together.

Whether we’re discussing mental health, relationships, entrepreneurship, culture, identity, or personal growth, Soul Thursdays creates a space where curiosity is welcomed and every voice matters.

🎙️ Join us live: https://SoulThursday.com

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Soul Thursdays

Real Conversations. Real Community. Real Growth.

We Grow Together.

Join the discussion now at SoulThursdays.com

SEGMENT A — Elsa Mehary
Identity & Ownership: Stop Waiting for Permission

Elsa Mehary was born in Ethiopia, raised in the States, went to Dartmouth, and spent years as an Art Director inside the most powerful media companies in the world — Time Inc., InStyle, Condé Nast, Hearst. She watched gatekeeping happen in real time. She watched Black men get propped into positions that led to Silicon Valley, then go silent under NDAs.

SEGMENT B — Mason Richards
Becoming: From Guyana to Hollywood

Mason Richards was born in Guyana, raised in Brooklyn, and discovered as a child actor at 12. He performed off-Broadway alongside Lauryn Hill and Donald Faison. He dropped out of high school, took his GED and SAT in the same month, and won a Posse Scholarship to Vanderbilt — where he directed the first-ever all-Black theater production in Vanderbilt history after the theater department offered him the role of a servant.

“I’m on this next chapter, where all the stuff that happened before is setting me up for this next thing.”

Two stories. One night. One question:

What does it cost to lose your identity — and what does it take to find it again?

Join us live this Thursday, May 28th at 8 PM Eastern.

👉 Join Now free: SoulThursdays.com

The conversation is real. Bring your questions — we do live Q&A at the end.

Soul Thursdays airs live every Thursday at 8 PM ET at SoulThursdays.com. Five years. Real community. Real conversations.

This Thursday, May 28th at 8 PM ET, Soul Thursday is going live with a double feature that I’ve been looking forward to for weeks. Two guests. One night. One theme: Identity, Blackness, and Internationality.

Register free at SoulThursdays.com

SEGMENT A — Elsa Mehary
Identity & Ownership: Stop Waiting for Permission

Elsa Mehary was born in Ethiopia, raised in the States, went to Dartmouth, and spent years as an Art Director inside the most powerful media companies in the world — Time Inc., InStyle, Condé Nast, Hearst. She watched gatekeeping happen in real time. She watched Black men get propped into positions that led to Silicon Valley, then go silent under NDAs.

Then in 2020, during a cancer diagnosis in a locked-down New York City — with BLM protests literally outside her window — everything changed.

Now she works as a Strategic Creative Advisor and Identity Architect , helping people stop waiting for external permission and start building from the inside out.

She told me something in our pre-show conversation that I haven’t stopped thinking about:

“We find our tribe through our identity. You can’t get your other needs met without it.”

Identity isn’t a branding exercise. It’s a basic human need. And Elsa is going to show us why.

SEGMENT B — Mason Richards
Becoming: From Guyana to Hollywood

Mason Richards was born in Guyana, raised in Brooklyn, and discovered as a child actor at 12. He performed off-Broadway alongside Lauryn Hill and Donald Faison. He dropped out of high school, took his GED and SAT in the same month, and won a Posse Scholarship to Vanderbilt — where he directed the first-ever all-Black theater production in Vanderbilt history after the theater department offered him the role of a servant.

After CBS News, Paramount Pictures, and waiting tables in LA, he earned an MFA from CalArts. His short film The Seawall — made after returning to Guyana for the first time since he left as a seven-year-old boy — premiered at Cannes, played the Havana Film Festival, and is now headed to the Venice Biennale .

Now he’s making the feature Beyond the Seawall . A story about migration, Black boyhood, fatherhood, and a son searching for a father who left to become a gold miner. His own father — recently reconnected after years apart — now has dementia. Mason is racing to finish the film while his father can still remember.

He said this to me and I wrote it down immediately:

“I’m on this next chapter, where all the stuff that happened before is setting me up for this next thing.”

Two stories. One night. One question:

What does it cost to lose your identity — and what does it take to find it again?

Join us live this Thursday, May 28th at 8 PM Eastern.

👉 Register free: SoulThursdays.com

The conversation is real. Bring your questions — we do live Q&A at the end.

Soul Thursdays airs live every Thursday at 8 PM ET at SoulThursdays.com. Five years. Real community. Real conversations.

There’s a quiet conversation happening in a lot of homes right now.

And that changes the conversation. SoulThursdays.com - Register here for this week’s session!

Some Questions We’ll Explore Together

• What does “prepared for adulthood” actually mean today?

• What responsibilities helped YOU grow?

• How do we know when we’re helping children versus overprotecting them?

• What builds confidence and resilience in young people?

• Did survival culture change the way our communities parent?

• What conversations are missing right now?

🎙️ Soul Thursdays
Real Voices. Real Stories. Real Community.
🌐 Join Now at SoulThursdays.com

There’s a quiet conversation happening in a lot of homes right now.

Parents are asking themselves questions they don’t always say out loud:

Am I doing enough?
Am I protecting my child… or accidentally preventing growth?
How do you prepare children for adulthood in a world that already feels overwhelming to adults?

This week on Soul Thursdays, we’re opening the door for a different kind of conversation.

Not a lecture.
Not a debate.
Not a blame session.

A real community discussion.

Because many families today are navigating something deeper than “parenting advice.” We’re trying to raise emotionally healthy, resilient, prepared children while many adults are still recovering from survival mode themselves.

And that changes the conversation. SoulThursdays.com - Register here for this week’s session!

One of the strongest realizations from our recent conversations was this:

“Many parents don’t lack love — they lack models.”

That statement stayed with us.

So many people are parenting while exhausted, healing, adapting, and trying to figure things out in real time. Many of us learned survival, responsibility, and endurance… but not always emotional regulation, connection, rest, or intentional preparation.

That doesn’t make people bad parents.

It makes this moment worthy of deeper conversation.

Some Questions We’ll Explore Together

• What does “prepared for adulthood” actually mean today?

• What responsibilities helped YOU grow?

• How do we know when we’re helping children versus overprotecting them?

• What builds confidence and resilience in young people?

• Did survival culture change the way our communities parent?

• What conversations are missing right now?

This isn’t about perfection.

It’s about reflection.

Because community listening still matters.

And maybe one of the most important things we can do right now is slow down long enough to ask:
What are our children truly being prepared for?

Pull up and join the conversation.

🎙️ Soul Thursdays
Real Voices. Real Stories. Real Community.
🌐 SoulThursdays.com - Register here for this week’s session!

Philly Salon: Community Discussion - Multi-generational dialogue. Real talk without the fluff. The kind of room where people talk to understand, not to win.

Rediscovering Yourself After Survival Mode - With Adrienne Charleston, M.A., LPA — therapist, Army veteran, founder of Butterfly Flow Counseling.

Pull up. 8 PM ET.

Join Tonight — 8 PM ET →

See you tonight,
Host, Soul Thursdays

Get Connected:
Get Zoom Reminder: Register here
SMS Reminders: soulthursday.live

Two conversations.
One night.
And both centered around the same deeper question:

How do we reconnect — with ourselves and with each other?

🕗 Thursday • 8 PM Eastern
🔗 Register at SoulThursdays.com

Connection to community and identity.
Connection to ourselves after life has changed us.

First, Michelle & Steve and members of the Philly Salon community join us for a real conversation about changing neighborhoods, displacement, emotional disconnect, and the importance of creating spaces where different generations can still come together and talk honestly.

What started as a simple pop-in conversation with them turned into something much deeper. Michelle described the Philly Salon as a multi-generational space rooted in intentional dialogue and real talk without the fluff — the kind of room where people don’t just debate to win, they talk to understand.

And somewhere during that conversation, somebody said:

“We didn’t leave notes.”

That line stuck with me.

Because a lot of people are navigating adulthood, relationships, grief, burnout, identity, and community shifts without guidance. We learned how to survive… but not always how to process, connect, or rest.

And in many ways, that same idea carries into the second half of our evening.

Later that night, we’ll sit down with Adrienne Charleston, M.A., LPA — therapist, retired Army veteran, and founder of Butterfly Flow Counseling — for a conversation about burnout, emotional exhaustion, healing, and what it means to rediscover yourself after years of survival mode.

One thing I’ve realized lately is that a lot of people aren’t falling apart…

They’re just carrying too much quietly.

Adrienne’s butterfly metaphor really resonates with me because transformation sounds beautiful… but anybody who’s ever changed deeply knows it can also feel uncomfortable, lonely, and disorienting.

Sometimes healing isn’t becoming someone new.

Sometimes it’s reconnecting with who you were before survival mode took over.

Two conversations.
One night.
And both centered around the same deeper question:

How do we reconnect — with ourselves and with each other?

🕗 Thursday • 8 PM Eastern
🔗 Register at SoulThursdays.com

We’re bringing in you.

👉 A Community Discussion: What’s Happening to Our Neighborhoods?

This isn’t about stats or studies.
This is about stories.

📖 The Story We’re Living

Across the country, people are noticing the same thing:

• Families being priced out

• Communities shifting faster than we can process

• Spaces that once felt like home… feeling unfamiliar

For some, it’s subtle.
For others, it’s sudden.

But for many of us, it raises real questions:

• Where did everybody go?

• Why does it feel different now?

• And what does “community” even mean today?

🌟 This Week, You’re the Speaker

There’s no panel this week.

No script.

Just a room full of people from different cities, different experiences, and different perspectives — coming together to talk it out.

Maybe you’ve seen your neighborhood change over 30 years.
Maybe you just moved somewhere new and you’re trying to find your place.
Maybe you’re watching it happen in real time and don’t know what to make of it yet.

👉 Your story matters.

Whether you speak up… or just listen and reflect.

❤️ Featured Opportunity: Marriage Rewired Retreat

For those who are thinking deeper about relationships, clarity, and intentional partnership…

There’s an upcoming experience aligned with that same spirit of growth:

Marriage Is Sacred & Sexy — The Covenant Connection Journey

📍 Embassy Suites Riverfront | Wilmington, NC
📅 June 4–5, 2026

This is a singles experience focused on:

• Clarity in today’s dating landscape

• Healing and self-awareness

• Preparing for marriage with intention and confidence

Led by couples who’ve built lasting marriages, this isn’t about rushing into something…

👉 It’s about choosing well

If that resonates, you can explore more here:
🔗 https://marriagerewiredretreat.com/

This Thursday Community Discussion & Networking

🎙️ Join Us Live

🎙️ Soul Thursdays Live Community Discussion
👉 Topic: What’s Happening in Your Community?
📅 This Thursday
🕒 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT
🔗 Join at: SoulThursdays.com

📅 Thursday, April 16 - JOIN NOW

Antwone Fisher’s story reminds us that even in the hardest circumstances, transformation is possible.

This will be a deeply personal conversation about resilience, storytelling, identity, and what it means to reclaim your life narrative.

📍 Join us live:
SoulThursdays.com

📅 Thursday, April 16 🕖 7:45 PM ET - REGISTER HERE

Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish, a powerful story of survival, healing, and the search for belonging.

His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, offers thoughtful reflections on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Antwone Fisher’s story reminds us that even in the hardest circumstances, transformation is possible.

This will be a deeply personal conversation about resilience, storytelling, identity, and what it means to reclaim your life narrative.

📅 Thursday, April 16 🕖 7:45 PM ET - REGISTER HERE

Antwone Fisher is a New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter whose life story inspired the acclaimed film Antwone Fisher. Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish. His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, reflects on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Join the Conversation

Soul Thursdays has always been about more than listening — it’s about learning together, sharing experiences, and building community through honest conversation.

Whether you’re caring for family, reflecting on your own life journey, or simply seeking deeper understanding, these conversations are for you.

📍 Join us live:
SoulThursdays.com

This Week: Dementia Care — Caring for the Ones Who Raised Us

During the discussion we will explore:

• Early warning signs of dementia families often miss
• The emotional weight of caring for aging parents
• Why dementia can be difficult for families to recognize or discuss
• How caregiving responsibilities reshape family relationships
• Practical ways to support a loved one while protecting your own wellbeing
• How Black families can advocate for better healthcare support

If you have aging parents, grandparents, or elders in your life, this conversation may help you prepare for a journey many families eventually face.

Next Week: A Conversation with Antwone Q. Fisher

📅 Thursday, April 16
🕖 7:45 PM ET

The following week we welcome Antwone Q. Fisher, New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter whose life story inspired the acclaimed film Antwone Fisher.

Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish, a powerful story of survival, healing, and the search for belonging.

His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, offers thoughtful reflections on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Join the Conversation

Both sessions will be filmed LIVE with video, speaker discussion, and open community Q&A.

📍 Join us live:
SoulThursdays.com

The past couple of weeks have reminded me why we started Soul Thursdays in the first place — to create space where real stories, lived experiences, and community wisdom can meet.

And over the next two weeks, we’re honored to host two extraordinary guests whose journeys speak to the heart of what Soul Thursdays is all about: resilience, reflection, healing, and the courage to face difficult truths.

Both sessions will be LIVE conversations with video, speaker dialogue, and community Q&A, because the most meaningful conversations are the ones we share together.

This Week: Dementia Care — Caring for the Ones Who Raised Us

📅 Thursday, April 9
🕖 7:45 PM ET

At some point in life, many of us face a quiet but powerful transition.

The people who once cared for us… may eventually need our care.

This week on Soul Thursdays we sit down with Dr. Kalisha Bonds Johnson, a nurse scientist and board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Emory University’s Integrated Memory Care Clinic.

Dr. Johnson works directly with families navigating dementia, behavioral changes, medication decisions, and the difficult healthcare transitions that often come with aging.

But what makes her voice especially powerful is that she doesn’t just speak from research — she speaks from lived experience, cultural understanding, and deep compassion for families walking this journey.

She is also the founder of KBJ Collective, where she translates research into practical tools and coaching for caregivers. Through her work with the D.E.C.I.D.E. Research Lab, she focuses on improving dementia care experiences for African American families.

This conversation will explore the emotional, practical, and cultural realities of dementia and caregiving in our communities.

During the discussion we will explore:

• Early warning signs of dementia families often miss
• The emotional weight of caring for aging parents
• Why dementia can be difficult for families to recognize or discuss
• How caregiving responsibilities reshape family relationships
• Practical ways to support a loved one while protecting your own wellbeing
• How Black families can advocate for better healthcare support

If you have aging parents, grandparents, or elders in your life, this conversation may help you prepare for a journey many families eventually face.

Next Week: A Conversation with Antwone Q. Fisher

📅 Thursday, April 16
🕖 7:45 PM ET

The following week we welcome Antwone Q. Fisher, New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter whose life story inspired the acclaimed film Antwone Fisher.

Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish, a powerful story of survival, healing, and the search for belonging.

His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, offers thoughtful reflections on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Antwone Fisher’s story reminds us that even in the hardest circumstances, transformation is possible.

This will be a deeply personal conversation about resilience, storytelling, identity, and what it means to reclaim your life narrative.

Antwone Q. Fisher is a New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter whose life story inspired the acclaimed film Antwone Fisher. Raised in foster care and overcoming homelessness as a teenager, Fisher transformed his life experiences into the bestselling memoir Finding Fish. His newest book, Reflections Beneath the Buckeye Trees: Notes from a Life, reflects on forgiveness, memory, and the lessons learned across a lifetime.

Join the Conversation

Both sessions will be filmed LIVE with video, speaker discussion, and open community Q&A.

Soul Thursdays has always been about more than listening — it’s about learning together, sharing experiences, and building community through honest conversation.

Whether you’re caring for family, reflecting on your own life journey, or simply seeking deeper understanding, these conversations are for you.

📍 Join us live:
SoulThursdays.com

JOIN NOW: BUILD — Brotherhood, Unity, Integrity, Leadership & Duty

Our guest, Curtis Pitts, brings a perspective grounded in community leadership and real-world responsibility. His message is simple, but powerful: strong communities don’t happen by accident — they are built by men who understand their role in them.

📅 Thursday | 8 PM ET
🎤 Guest: Curtis Pitts
📍 Live Session

You can reserve your spot here:
1828academy.com

If someone came to mind while reading this — a son, nephew, or young man in your life — invite him to join you.

Because at some point, every man has to answer the question:

What am I building?

It’s no longer just, “What can I achieve?”
It becomes, “What am I building?”

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Most young men are taught how to pursue success — how to get a job, make money, and compete. But very few are taught how to build something that lasts. A strong family. A trusted reputation. A community that’s better because they were part of it.

That shift — from achievement to responsibility — is where manhood really begins.

This week during 1828 Manhood Academy kickoff, we’re continuing our kickoff series with a conversation centered on that idea:

BUILD — Brotherhood, Unity, Integrity, Leadership & Duty

Our guest, Curtis Pitts, brings a perspective grounded in community leadership and real-world responsibility. His message is simple, but powerful: strong communities don’t happen by accident — they are built by men who understand their role in them.

We’ll talk about what it means to surround yourself with the right men, how to lead without a title, and why integrity matters more than image. We’ll also explore the idea that manhood isn’t just about personal success — it’s about what exists because you showed up and took responsibility.

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If you’re a parent, mentor, or someone raising a young man, this is one of those conversations that can create a shift. And if you’re a young man between 18–28, this is an opportunity to hear what leadership and responsibility actually look like in practice.

📅 Thursday | 8 PM ET
🎤 Guest: Curtis Pitts
📍 Live Session

You can reserve your spot here:
1828academy.com

If someone came to mind while reading this — a son, nephew, or young man in your life — invite him to join you.

Because at some point, every man has to answer the question:

What am I building?

JOIN NOW

A Conversation with Dr. Berry Pierre

Our guest speaker is Dr. Berry Pierre, a board-certified physician, health educator, and advocate who has spent years helping people understand the real impact of everyday health decisions.

But this conversation is not just about medicine.

It’s about ownership.

Ownership of your body.
Ownership of your habits.
Ownership of the future you are building.

Because long-term leadership doesn’t begin in the boardroom.

It begins in daily discipline.

Join the Conversation

📍 Manhood Academy Session

Vitality & Longevity — Why Young Men Must Protect Their Future

🩺 Guest Speaker: Dr. Berry Pierre
Board-Certified Physician | Health Educator | Advocate

Young men ages 18–28 are encouraged to attend.

Parents and mentors are welcome as well.

Reserve your spot:
1828academy.com